More than 2 000 Bayview residents signed a petition on Saturday December 8 in support of hearing the athaan, the Muslim call to prayer, at Masjidus Sauligheen, in Seafarer Drive, after it was reduced to a beep following a noise complaint.
Nine days before the signature drive, the imam of the mosque, Maulana Yusuf Mohamed, received a letter on Tuesday December 4 from the City of Cape Town regarding a “noise nuisance” and instructing the mosque to “discontinue or cause to be discontinued the alleged noise nuisance, caused by the loud speakers.”
It said a written noise management plan by an accredited acoustic engineer had to be submitted to the City.
The mosque, which is an entity of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), now has 21 days within which to mitigate or respond to the complaint made by a neighbour in October.
This was the neighbour’s second attempt at silencing the mosque.
Representatives from Bayview Islamic Society, the City’s departments of environmental health and specialised noise unit, and the MJC met at the MJC’s office in Athlone yesterday, Tuesday December 11.
On Saturday, signatory Isgak Mohamed, from San Remo, told the Plainsman he had been involved in the construction of the mosque about 20 years ago.
He said the neighbour’s actions spoke to her religious intolerance and that if she could not live alongside Muslims, she should rather sell her house to the mosque. “We can make it a madrassah (Muslim school),” he said.
Mr Mohamed said the community should be united and show tolerance and respect for each other’s religions.
For about a month now the call to the early morning prayer (fajr), just more than an hour before sunrise, has not been made and in the last week was not heard at all.
The Plainsman was present when the muted call to prayer – a beeping sound when the Bluetooth-operated microphone is switched on – was made.
This is all the community heard and last week musallees (parishioners) were given an explanation pertaining to the letter.
Tasneem Sarlie, who has lived across the road from the mosque for 19 years, said the silence has been a shock to the community. “We can’t get court orders against drug houses but we get letters for the call to prayer. This leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth,” she said.
Ms Sarlie said the call was a daily, routine reminder and part of her life.
Another neighbour, Hassiem Rispel, said the athaan and church bells were important in the lives of religious people. “It all comes down to respect,” he said. “Every Sunday we hear the bands playing in the white marquee, metres away from the mosque,” he said.
The petition and its drive was put together by Strandfontein Community Police Forum (CPF) chairperson, Sandy Schuter, who posted on social media her disgust at the notion of a call to prayer being silenced.
Ms Schuter said the community needed prayer and that everyone had a role to play in fighting crime. “I have been there with the patrol volunteers to assist the masjids during the fast, to ensure their vehicles and safety were sorted – early morning and at night … and it’s not even so loud that it needs to be acted on this dramatically,” she said.
She said the community stood side-by-side during prayer meetings calling for peace and to stop the scourge of gangsterism and drugs.
“Why don’t the same anti-Islamist community spend their free time moaning about the drunk, loud parties and apply for court orders against the unruly party animals that cause a disturbance instead,” she said.
Meanwhile, the MJC’s mediation and arbitration has called for calm and wisdom.
“We urge everyone to refrain from pursuing the matter beyond the confines of the law. We furthermore discourage engagement with the party and parties involved, especially the person who lodged the complaint in the first instance,” said Sheikh Riad Fataar, second deputy president of the MJC.
Zahid Badroodien, mayoral committee member for area south, said the mosque was not silenced and confirmed that only one complaint was received.
He said a letter of clarity was issued to the mosque on Friday December 7 and that he went for prayer jumu’ah (congregational prayers) at the mosque on the same day.
“It is not the City’s intention to stop the call to prayer but rather to find an amicable solution between the community and the mosque,” he said.
He made suggestions to mitigate the sound, including that the muathen (caller to prayer) stand away from the microphone and that the volume of the loudspeaker is reduced or is turned in a different direction.
According to the City, the first complaint was received in July and a letter from their specialised noise unit was sent regarding the amplified sound emanating due to the call to prayer and there was a request to reduce the volume.
A measurement was taken but it was too windy and the reading was not accurate.
Mr Badroodien said adjustments were made but then the complainant submitted an affidavit in October calling for an inspection.
Depending on the findings of the environmental health practitioner’s report, an abatement notice may then be issued.
An abatement notice was served on the mosque in terms of Western Cape Noise Regulations (2013), calling for the sound levels to be reduced when the call to prayer is made.
The matter is being dealt with as a noise nuisance as per the City’s regulations.
Mr Badroodien said the City will engage with the mosque leadership to find an amicable solution which addresses the concerns raised by the complainant.